Selectboard approves modest code-enforcement fee increases, effective July 1

The Waldoboro Selectboard voted to adopt modest increases to the town’s code-enforcement fees and set the changes to take effect July 1.

The board opened a public hearing on the proposal and heard one public comment from a resident, identified in the meeting as Dan, who said the staff comparison of Waldoboro’s fees with similar nearby towns showed Waldoboro remains on the low end. After closing the hearing, the selectboard moved, seconded and approved the fee schedule and the July 1 effective date to give staff time to update billing software.

Town staff noted the July 1 date aligns with the town’s fiscal year and will avoid confusion later in the year. A board member urged incremental increases, saying the town’s rates are “way below what other towns are for these fees and we ought to … bring them up a bit.”

The action was taken by voice motions and recorded as approved in the meeting minutes; no roll-call vote was read into the record. The town manager said the software update to implement the new schedule would take about a day.

The fee increase follows a comparative review with similarly sized communities and will be implemented administratively by town staff. The selectboard did not change other code-enforcement policies during the vote.

The selectboard scheduled no additional public hearings for this action; implementation will proceed on the stated July 1 date.